As 2020 slides into our “past” it is very significant to be intentional about cataloging our experiences in our mind. How will 2020 be remembered? Will it remembered as positive, negative, or can it be remembered as just an experience, without adding any adjectives?
The challenge with adjectives is that we can use them then forget that we added them to the experience! Like tossing a boomerang, then being surprised when it comes back and hits us with a whop!
Adjectives are positive, comparative, and superlative. A “positive” adjective describes without comparing: It is a nice day.
If a descriptive adjective has one or two syllables, you can turn it into its comparative and superlative forms by adding -er and -est.
“Today is nicer than yesterday.” (Comparative adjective: comparing one thing to another.)
“Today is the nicest day we have had all week.” (Superlative adjective: comparing three or more things.)
Just for grins and giggles, I read the article, “According to a numerology expert, 2020 was always going to be a total sh*t show,” the summary of Josy Curcio’s numerology for 2020.
2020 is a doozy for a few reasons. The first being the presence of double-digits. “When we see double-digits, the influence is amplified,” Curcio said. The fact that we’re seeing two twos and two zeros is important. “The number two… it’s all about nurturing your self-growth,” she shared.
On a global level, she said this number indicates a need for us to take a moment to “look at our identity.”
“As a nation, who the heck are we? As people; as a society; as a religion… as any kind of institution that we have started to create, who the heck are we? Are we true to ourselves?” she said.
Then there’s the double zero.
“The double-zero, it’s a bit of a scary influence,” she started. “The zero represents either a hole; being in the darkness… or it brings a pool of opportunities and amazing possibilities.”
Farther down the article, Curcio said, “Interestingly, number four is associated with creating a better life for yourself. This better life, however, is only attainable if you put in the work and live honestly.”
Life during a global pandemic is chaotic, making it compelling to add adjectives, but notice what happens when you resist that temptation and just share the experience:
John and I traveled back to Michigan. Neither of us went back to work. We were able to ride bikes and John was able to play music with a neighbor who also winters here in Southwest Florida.
Zoom made it possible for me to “attend” virtual meditation retreats in Seattle, Emerald Isle, at Heartwood Refuge, and Oakwood while staying at a friend’s cottage!
We had a visit with Stacey and Doug, Brad and Christina, and Adam on the way, and arrived in Florida on Monday, November 30. We walk and/or bike and John is playing shuffleboard with the head of the league. We are unsure if Canadian friends are going to be able to come down, but additional Michigan friends are scheduled to arrive before the first of the year.
The first of the year…. wow.
What does 2021 mean in numerology?
Next year {2021} we’re working with number five. This, Curcio explained, represents “The sky and the ocean. Like, there’s an infinity of opportunity.” The year is expected to be about change and moving forward.
She expanded on this, sharing that for those who have used their time this year {2020} to reflect, “things are just going to go amazingly” in 2021.
“There’s definitely that light at the end of the tunnel.”
I am all for light at the end of the tunnel.
“Who Understands Me but Me” is a powerful poem by Jimmy Santiago Baca, from Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems. Copyright © 1990 by Jimmy Santiago Baca (See ALL POEMS by Jimmy Santiago Baca.)
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Born in 1952 in Santa Fe of Chicano and Apache descent, Jimmy Santiago Baca was abandoned by his parents and at 13 ran away from the orphanage where his grandmother had placed him. He was convicted on drug charges in 1973 and spent five years in prison. There he learned to read and began writing poetry.
The last lines of the poem:
I have found parts of myself never dreamed of by me,
they were goaded out from under rocks in my heart
when the walls were built higher,
when the water was turned off and the windows painted black.
I followed these signs
like an old tracker and followed the tracks deep into myself,
followed the blood-spotted path,
deeper into dangerous regions, and found so many parts of myself,
who taught me water is not everything,
and gave me new eyes to see through walls,
and when they spoke, sunlight came out of their mouths,
and I was laughing at me with them,
we laughed like children and made pacts to always be loyal,
who understands me when I say this is beautiful?
Catalogue 2020 as beautiful. A positive adjective. We are giving the meaning to what was. We are also giving the meaning to what is. 2021 may be better or even the best…